CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE
December 1942
Ray Eames [Cover Designer], John Entenza [Editor]
Ray Eames [Cover Designer], John Entenza [Editor]: CALIFORNIA ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE. Los Angeles: Western States Publishing Co., Volume 59, number 11, December 1942. Original edition. Slim folio. Stapled printed wrappers. 64 pp. Illustrated text and articles. Original cover by Ray Eames. Mailing address typed on front panel. Faint “30/“ to front panel. Wrappers lightly rubbed and worn with faint vertical crease [from mailing], but a very good copy.
9.75 x 12.75 vintage magazine with 64 pages of editorial content and advertisements from leading purveyors of West Coast midcentury modernism, circa 1942. Layout and typography by Robin Park. Primary photography by Julius Shulman.
- Articles
- War Housing Case History: William Wilson Wurster
- American-Soviet Relations In The New World Democracy: Vice President Henry A. Wallace
- Plyluminum House: Whitney R. Smith
- Fascism Is My Personal Enemy
- Discipline For Democracy: Marjorie R. Leonard
- Architecture
- Vallejo Housing
- Long Beach Municipal Airport Murals And Mosaics: Grace Clements. These murals and mosaics depicting aviation, navigation, zodiac and constellations are in various locations throughout the Long Beach Airport Terminal. They were created by then 28-year-old artist Grace Clements. From Early Aviation in Long Beach: “Long Beach declared the terminal (mostly unchanged since 1941) a cultural landmark in 1990. It remains the only terminal at the Long Beach airport.” From the Long Beach Press-Telegram: “For years, works of art lay hidden beneath the feet of millions of passengers who annually frequent the Long Beach Airport. It wasn’t until recently, when the airport’s maintenance team was restoring the terminal, that the 1941 mosaics by Works Progress Administration artist Grace Clements were found underneath old carpeting. Found throughout the Art Deco airport’s first floor, Clements’ ceramic floor tile mosaics of a large global map, birds, a ship, an oil well and a hand dialing a telephone are a tribute to the city’s aviation, oil and communications origins.” [The Living New Deal]
- Thomas Mann House: J. R. Davidson. The Thomas Mann House at 1550 San Remo Drive in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, was designed by the modernist architect JR Davidson for the exiled German writer Thomas Mann and his wife Katia Mann in 1941. Mann lived at the house between 1942 and 1952 before his emigration to Switzerland, where he spent the last three years of his life. The house was sold by Mann to an American lawyer and his wife, and remained in their family until its 2016 purchase by the German government. A restoration of the house is planned, and it is intended that the house will become an artist's residence, like the nearby Villa Aurora, which was the home of fellow German exile Lion Feuchtwanger. [wikipedia]
- House: Carl Anderson
- Special Features
- Art
- Books
- Music
- Shop-Wise
- Notes in Passing
- Products and Practices
From the Eames Office via Daniel Ostroff: “Ray Kaiser Eames (California, 1912 – 1988) was born in Sacramento, California. She studied painting with Hans Hofmann in New York before moving on to Cranbrook Academy where she met and assisted Charles and Eero Saarinen in preparing designs for the Museum of Modern Art’s Organic Furniture Competition. Charles and Eero’s designs, created by molding plywood into complex curves, won them the two first prizes.
Charles and Ray married in 1941 and moved to California where they continued their furniture design work with molding plywood. During World War II they were commissioned by the United States Navy to produce molded plywood splints, stretchers, and experimental glider shells. [At this time] Charles and Ray established a strong connection to the influential design magazine, Arts & Architecture and its Editor/Publisher John Entenza. Charles wrote numerous articles for the publication, and Ray wrote two articles and designed 27 covers for the magazine over the span of six years. In many respects, the covers are as eloquent as the texts.
“Ray’s designs for Arts & Architecture are more than creative graphic expressions. They are unique works of art that reflect the times in which they were produced. In the May and November 1942 issues made during America’s first year in the war, Ray incorporated military design elements and emphasized the color khaki, reflecting the uniforms of U.S. Armed Forces personnel. There were notes inside both issues that provide insights on the covers.
“At the time Ray was creating these covers, she and Charles were working on military applications of molded plywood, including experiments in airplane seating and airplane bodies. Of all their contributions to the war effort, their most successful one was the design and production of the Eames Leg Splint.”
“In 1946, Evans Products began producing the Eameses’ molded plywood furniture. Their molded plywood chair was called “the chair of the century” by the influential architectural critic Esther McCoy. Soon production was taken over by Herman Miller, Inc., who continues to produce the furniture in the United States today.
“In 1949, Charles and Ray designed and built their own home in Pacific Palisades, California, as part of the Case Study House Program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine. Their design and innovative use of materials made the House a mecca for architects and designers from both near and far. Today, it is considered one of the most important post-war residences anywhere in the world.”
Editorial Associates for Arts and Architecture included Herbert Matter and Charles Eames. Julius Shulman was the staff photographer. The Editorial Advisory Board included William Wilson Wurster,Richard Neutra, Isamu Noguchi, eero Saarinen, Gardner Dailey, Sumner Spaulding, Mario Corbett, Esther McCoy, John Funk, Gregory Ain, George Nelson, Gyorgy Kepes, marcel Breuer, Raphael Soriano, Ray Eames, Garret Eckbo, Edgar Kaufman, Jr. and others luminaries of the mid-century modern movement.
In 1938, John Entenza joined California Arts and Architecture magazine as editor. By 1943, Entenza and his art director Alvin Lustig had completely overhauled the magazine and renamed it Arts and Architecture. Arts and Architecture championed all that was new in the arts, with special emphasis on emerging modernist architecture in Southern California.
One of the pivotal figures in the growth of modernism in California, Entenza's most lasting contribution was his sponsorship of the Case Study Houses project, which featured the works of architects Thornton Abell, Conrad Buff, Calvin Straub, Donald Hensman, Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen, J. R. Davidson, A. Quincy Jones, Frederick Emmons, Don Knorr, Edward Killinsworth, Jules Brady, Waugh Smith, Pierre Koenig, Kemper Nomland, Kemper Nomland Jr., Richard Neutra, Ralph Rapson, Raphael Soriano, Whitney Smith, Sumner Spaulding, John Rex, Rodney Walker, William Wilson Wurster, Theodore Bernardi and Craig Ellwood. Arts and Architecture also ran articles and interviews on artists and designers such as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, George Nakashima, George Nelson and many other groundbreakers.